Blue dot jawfish

[butts182]

while eating dinner, i noticed that my blue dot jawfish looked all scraped up or something like that about half way down his body towards his tail. he didn't look like that when i put him in. does anyone have any experience with these guys? do they rub themselves on rocks? he still eats like crazy, so i think he is still healthy

 

[Anthony Calfo]

I've kept and spawned (but not raised yet) this species. They are prone to ravaging bacterial infections. I worry when you say "looks scraped up"
Can you share a clear pic?
How long have you had him/her?

 

[butts182]

Anthony, I have had the fish around 2-3 months. Here's a few pics. they are not very good, but he doesn't come out very much. look towards the tail section

 

[Anthony Calfo]

oooh...yikes my friend. Please dont freak out yet. Its only an educated guess from the pic and the species, but the pocked appearance is classically pathological, not scrapes per se.

Please waste no time and get broad spectrum antibiotics to play it safe. In a perfect world, you'd have local vet access and could get Baytril (or if you have agriculture/feed stores in yoru region...they sell it too nicely cheap for horses).

If you go with pet store meds, look for a nitrofurazone-furazolidone cocktail.

The Baytril is best as an injection (I know...ughhh) but it is about the most effective med you can find. I can walk you through by phone if you like.

The furan meds can be short baths...they are only effective for about 4-6 hours in a tank. Not terribly brutal on bio filters either (youll need to be doing water changes to play it safe...moot point, no worries)

Let me know what meds you have or have access too and we'll formulate a plan of attack. Please waste no time, though...I have seen these fishes drop wickedly fast (days) from it. A common expressed symptom under stress.

many possible causes...but I'm wondering if your house is having swings in ambient temperature that are affecting the water temps and heaters' ability to compensate for stability? Docs say as little as a 2F day/night swing is stressful...and I have to admit that many reefs are amazingly steady in temp down to 80ft or more! But with good food and good care otherwise, less than 4 F daily swings are ok.

Have you checked early morning and "high noon" temps (peak lighting) for comparison?

 

[Anthony Calfo]

BTW...how far are you from Jupiter Florida? I'll be there soon and may be able to scope the fish for you. PM me if you'd like.

 

[WrasseSandwich]

I agree with anthony, treat this fish fast, I had one and it was fine one day, the next day it was dead something got it, I miss it soo much, he was my favorite, I want another one

 

[butts182]

dang you guys are worrying me. he is my favorite fish as well. anthony, i sent you a pm. thanks for all of your help.

 

[bkoppes]

Had one that started to look the same and died very quickly after. My favorite fish as well. Not to scare you, but I am with the other 2 and their concerns.

 

[dnov99]

I have had 2 of these amazing fish over the years and both have died of this above bacterial infection. I have even heard it called BSP jawfish disease. Once they started showing symptoms they died very quickly. I decided these are fish that are best left in the oceans. Good luck, hope you get him to recover.

 

[Captain Nemo]

Yikes this does not sound good. Good luck and let us know how it goes, guess I will not be getting a blue dot like I was wanting......

 

[Anthony Calfo]

Public aquaria commonly regard this fish in the high priority category for "cleaning" when they first arrive. Meaning, some fishes are QTed with mild or no medication, but simply gently acclimated. While others, such as this case, are aggressively medicated in a QT tank to clean them up before they go into a display with substrates. The best, fastest and most thorough solution is a Baytril injection. Call around locally to see if any of your vets handles fishes.Your locale bodes well for this as many in sunny FL have valuable pond fishes and there are more vets doing high end koi in your neighborhood than, oh say...North Dakota. No disrespect to ND...just sayin' XD

 

[butts182]

How about feeding Dr. G's antibacterial food? I will try this in the meantime and try to find a vet that could help.

 

[WrasseSandwich]

So is the baytril the key to keeping this species successfully? If I cannot find a vet to administer it, is it hard to do, where do you inject the medication, how do u do it?

 

[Hyprviperx]

i have to ask if this happens to Pearly Jawfish also, or is it just limited to the Blue Spot Jawfish

 

[Tabasco1]

Very cool looking fish, I would never have guessed that it was prone to this type of issue. Good luck!

 

[dnov99]

i have to ask if this happens to Pearly Jawfish also, or is it just limited to the Blue Spot Jawfish

From my experience it does not happen to pearly's, as I did get one of these after losing the BSP and it is still thriving.

 

[WrasseSandwich]

From my experience it does not happen to pearly's, as I did get one of these after losing the BSP and it is still thriving.

Yea, I would agree, I talked with a student today who is doing research on on pearlys jawfish, I asked about BSJ and he said he had trouble keeping them and he sticks to the pearlys now

 

[Hyprviperx]

gotcha... thanks for the info, its weird how certain things affect only certain species and not the close relatives of it

 

[Anthony Calfo]

if you are new to giving "IM" (intramuscular) injections...lets play it safe and go for the peducle (stump of the tail so to speak). If you slip, go to far, or even push straight through the tail (actually...this isnt as bad as it sounds, relatively speaking here)...not a biggie.

If this were a fish, any fish, for example, that wasn't eating and I suggested (truly) you give it a vitamin B shot...the does is not a big deal. Water soluble and very hard to overdose. Baytril however IS NOT to be casually administered. A little bit of the right amount can cure a raging infection that would decimate the this otherwise and perhaps other fishes int he system. Slightly more than the right amount, however, will shut down the fish's kidneys and kill it. We gotta weigh the fish...

A few ways to do this here, but let me ask for simplicity if you have a digital kitchen scale? We need a gram scale. This fish may be large enough to register a useful number on a digital kitchen scale.

You need to by some needles too: 23G X 1" would be the size here...bigger needles (smaller numbers such as 19G will be too large of a gauge). If you don't have a source, go back to your local vet, advise him what you are doing here. We can reference aquatic citations to back up the purpose here. They can sell you some needles (disposable...never reuse) and a syringe. Mind you, the Baytril will come in a multi-use bottle (rubber cap you pierce with the needle to draw from...hence not wanting reused needles going into the uncontaminated solution). Vets use Baytril for everything from birds to horses. Very easy to find.

According to famous fish doc Ed Noga, the dose for Baytril (enrofloxin) is 10 mg/kg per injection every third day.

You'll need to do some math depending on the strength of Baytril you find - or ask the kind vet people to do it for you; they do it daily on their own. Tell them the weight of the fish and the above dose to convert for with the strength of Baytril they have on hand.

Heed the once every 3 day dose. More is not better here, again.

 

[butts182]

anthony, right now i am feeding the Dr. G's antibacterial frozen food. do you think it is worth a shot or do you think i am doomed if i don't get the baytril?